Whispers
by ghostface chilla
Summary: Alto cracks underneath the pressure of the hopeless situation he is caught in, and seeks solace in the one thing he has left - and even then, he doesn't know how long she'll still be there. AxS, episodes 20, 22, 23 spoilers


Title: Whispers  
Rating: T  
Disclaimer: Chinchillas don't own Macross Frontier and they aren't beings of pure angst.  
Summary: Alto embraced her tightly as he cried, and whispered "Don't go...don't go..." (AxS, Spoilers for Episode 22/23)

A damaged Nightmare EX landed in the hangar, smoke rising from battle damage caused by the long-gone SMS defectors. Sheryl Nome, the Galactic Fairy, dashed into the landing bay, wearing an expression of concern. Her bodyguards and entourage followed her at a distance, knowing fully well whom she came here to see.

_"Alto...please be alright!"_ She screamed to herself as the canopy of the battle-scarred variable fighter popped open with a hiss, revealing the figure of the former kabuki actor reaching up to remove his helmet. He took it off and tossed it into the cockpit, his long hair spilling down his back as he did. Even from where she stood, Sheryl could tell he was confused and stressing out.

_"Alto..."_ Was the only thing on her mind as the blue-haired pilot climbed down the ladder of his fighter. Once his feet touched the solid ground of the hangar, he turned to face Sheryl and started to walk towards her slowly. She started to worry more, as the man she fell in love with looked like he was about to burst into tears any second.

His journey brought him right in front of the pink-haired woman who looked up and peered into his sad, emotional gaze. A tense silence passed between them in the moody atmosphere. Suddenly, Alto's emotional wall broke down and the tears spilled forth from his eyes as he lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Sheryl's waist, capturing her in a tight embrace. She stood there, frozen with shock for a moment, before she wrapped her arms around her lover, rubbing small circles on his back soothingly.

"Sheryl!" The taller man choked out, as he cried into the top of her hair. The galactic fairy continued to rub his back, comforting him and whispering sweet nothings into his ear.

The bystanders in the bay were quickly ushered back to their assigned tasks by the singer's bodyguards, who patiently waited for this moment to pass.

.xoxo.

Alto quickly regained his composure and he left Sheryl momentarily, to change out of his flightsuit. A few hours later, they sat together on a couch in the living room of Alto's apartment. Sheryl's entourage had long since left, entrusting their charge to the former SMS pilot. The couple leaned into each other, staring numbly at the television as it broadcast old reruns of some giant mecha show from back before Space War 1. Sheryl's hand lay on Alto's knee and she rested her head on his chest. As the young man on the screen yelled something about being a "Gundam" or something along those lines, Alto's arm stroked Sheryl's pink tresses idly as his arm lay wrapped around her shoulder.

They remained like this, pretending that the stressful events of the day that lay behind them never happened and that everything was okay.

.xoxo.

"Alto...what's wrong?" She asked her blue-haired princess who lay next to her in bed, sobbing into his pillow. Many hours had passed since they watched tv, ate dinner, and Sheryl had been asleep for about an hour before she was awoken by her boyfriend's crying. He turned around and wrapped his arms around the pink-haired woman, who could only return the hime's embrace in an odd resemblance to his earlier episode in the hangar. Alto embraced her tightly as he cried, and whispered "Don't go...don't go..."

"Why're you crying? What's this all about?" She asked him, as she tenderly wiped tears from his red-rimmed eyes.

His only response was to cry harder as she continued to hold him. She rubbed soothing circles on his back once again as she made out choked cries of "Lose you...can't do anything...no matter...how hard I fight...can't protect..." She sighed sadly, as she knew what he was distressed about.

She knew that he realized that no matter how hard he fought, he couldn't save her. He wasn't like Ozma or Luca, who could protect their loved ones through continuing to fight. No matter how many enemies Alto shot down, it wouldn't do anything to delay the inevitable or magically cure her.

All Sheryl could do for the rest of the night was hold her boyfriend as he continued to break down in her arms, the gravity of the situation crushing him completely. Unknown to him, she wept silently as she continued to rub his back, whispering words of comfort into his ears.

Until the sun peeked over the horizon and broke the darkness, Sheryl Nome continued to whisper in the night.


End file.
